


Happiness Is Only Real When Shared

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Epilogue, Fantasy AU, M/M, happy endings, return of the mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 20:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17290472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: Sequel to A Spell For HappinessGladio takes Ignis home safely after the battle with Ardyn and is given the opportunity to really think about his choices, and his future.





	Happiness Is Only Real When Shared

**Author's Note:**

  * For [waywardmelody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/waywardmelody/gifts).



> Follows on directly from the ending of [A Spell For Happiness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12969615/chapters/29649687)
> 
> For Waywardmelody
> 
> Life may get in the way, but you'll always be my friend. You've always been the most eager for me to continue this story, so this one's for you. I hope your next year is kinder to you than last.

“He'll be tired,” Noct had said, as Gladio and Prompto had helped Ignis back into the tiny rowboat. “Magic takes it out of you.”

“That old excuse,” Ignis said, drawing the woollen blanket tighter around his shoulders as Prompto made a concerted effort to bundle him up. Ignis was wet, and naked, and the air was cold.

“Take him home,” Noct said, ignoring the weary sounding needling. “I'll come by in a couple of days.”

The boat rocked as Gladio heaved his weight into it. “What are you going to do?” Ignis asked, gripping the side of the rowboat as it pitched in the water.

“Speak to my dad,” Noct answered, quietly.

“You gonna be okay?” Gladio asked. The rowboat continued to shift as he settled himself into a seat at the oars. The shore was only barely visible. All around them was the dark sky and the endless rolling blue of the ocean.

“Yeah,” Noct replied, his eyes turning to back Ignis. “I need to stop acting like a fry and letting other people solve my problems.”

Ignis swallowed, his voice coming out weak, and slow. “Thank you for everything.”

Noct just shook his head. “Look after them, Prompto.”

“You can count on me!” Prompto replied.

“See you in a couple of days, right?” Gladio asked the question as if he was double checking an instruction he'd given to Noct had been properly understood.

“Yeah.”

Noct had lingered on the surface of the water as Gladio had started to row. At first the boat had pulled away slowly. Gladio was more exhausted than he'd realised even though he hadn't done much. Ignis had stayed turned, looking behind them as they drew away.

Then Noct had moved, and a wave had surged up under the back of the boat and pushed them ahead of it faster than Gladio could row. Before long the shore was in view, and Noct had become a speck on the ocean's surface that had disappeared in a blink and a flash of brilliant blue.

“I hope he's all right,” Prompto said, starting to shiver with cold.

Ignis drew the blanket as tightly around himself as he could. Gladio could see him trying to keep his teeth from chattering as he spoke. “I expect his victory today will go widely unreported, in which case he'll be fine. Perhaps, with a little luck, and his Majesty's grace, steps will be made to re-establish old ties.”

“Old ties?” Gladio asked, using the oars to steer them neatly towards the small dock and letting Noct's wave do the work of taking them home.

“Human-Mer relations,” Ignis answered. “Centuries ago we used to help fishermen in danger. Then you began to fish with nets that dragged huge swathes of ocean clean.” He glanced up at Gladio with heavily lidded eyes and a faint, wry smile. “And every Mer knows the story of the young girl who entrusted her charm to a human and was fished up onto land, where she couldn't speak, and couldn't swim. When she finally escaped her heart had been so corrupted with the land that she turned to foam when she reached the water.”

“Dude.” Prompto grimaced. “Did that actually happen?”

“Likely not,” Ignis answered, with a gentle laugh. “If it was possible to become so accustomed to human ways, I'd already be foam.”

Gladio smiled at him softly. “Glad you're not.”

“As am I.”

Gladio watched Ignis blinking slowly, as if he was fighting off waves of sleep. If what Noct had said was true about magic taking it out of you, and Ignis having given his to Noct, then Ignis probably needed a good long sleep in a warm, soft bed. And Gladio's own arms, if Gladio had anything to do with it. “Hang in there, Iggy,” he said, watching Ignis's head droop. “We'll be home soon.”

“Home sounds wonderful.”

The servants had fussed all over again when Gladio had got Ignis back to the castle, naked again, and so tired he was leaning heavily on Gladio's shoulder. He'd insisted on walking back into the castle, assuring everyone he was all right, and Gladio heard the urgent whispers about his eyes, and the sudden absence of his scars. They ignored them for now. Gladio trusted everyone in the castle to keep quiet about Ignis's overnight disappearance, and miraculous healing. It would give them time to come up with a story.

They'd made it through the entrance hall, and gang of fussing servants, that Gladio had shooed away and allowed Prompto to deal with, and then Gladio had picked Ignis up into his arms and carried him the rest of the way to his bedchamber. Ignis had protested, at first, but his head had lolled against Gladio's shoulder just like the first time he'd brought him here, and he was asleep before Gladio had reached the bed.

He'd settled Ignis as carefully into the bed as he could, tucking blankets over him to keep him warm. When he'd stood to remove his own shirt, still damp with the sea, and smelling of salt and sweat, Ignis's eye had opened and his hand had reached out from beneath the blankets. “Don't leave me?”

Gladio captured Ignis's questing hand in his own and squeezed. “I'm not,” he promised, “just don't wanna wear these wet things.”

Ignis had given a soft murmur of assent, and his hand had gone slack in Gladio's. Gladio bent down and tucked Iggy's arm back under the blankets before he finished stripping off.

Then he climbed into the bed behind Ignis, cupping his whole body around Ignis's smaller frame and engulfing him in his arms. Cool skin began to warm again, and Ignis smelled of the sea, and something else, something burning and alive that Gladio couldn't put his finger on. He kissed Iggy's hair and closed his eyes, letting Iggy's presence lull him into the comforts of sleep.

***

All around him was nothing but darkness, as deep and as black as the sea at night. Gladio spun around. There was no telling which way was up, and which was down. It felt as if he hung, suspended in a nothingness that was neither warm, nor cold.

It should have been frightening, but it wasn't. Instead Gladio found it welcoming, as if it was somewhere he belonged, but it was a lonely sense of belonging. There was no real warmth, no sounds of laughter, or chatter, just the endless peace of the bottom of the ocean.

Gladio kicked his tail--

_tail?_

\-- no, that was right. It was strong, and wide, and shone a burnished gold even without light. He swam, aimlessly at first, enjoying the weightlessness and sense of belonging. Then he felt it, a slight pull in his chest, as if he was being beckoned to something, or someone.

It grew stronger as he swam towards it, and he followed the sensation for what felt like miles. As he got closer he could make out a light, a flash of shimmering green that was irresistible. Gladio kicked his tail harder, swimming for it as fast as he could, fins flashing in the water.

His eyes adjusted to the depth and the gloom. He could see Ignis, hanging suspended, seeming asleep in the darkness. His head lolled lazily to one side, his hair flowing idly around his face as he hung there, bobbing up and down in the gentle current. His tail was a brilliant, iridescent green, his fins drifting back and forth in the water as he slept.

Gladio circled him once. He looked relaxed, and at peace, and Gladio took the time to admire the sight of him, the lines of toned, hard muscle in his arms and back, and stomach, and the way his skin turned shimmery at his waist, and slowly formed into scales as it took on the green hue of his tail. The necklace at his throat glowed, and Gladio could feel it calling to him, begging him to touch it.

Gladio swam slowly up the length of Ignis's body, letting his hands glide over smooth scales and cool skin. Ignis's gills at his neck opened and closed slowly, in gentle slumber. He didn't move when Gladio pulled him close, coiling his own tail around Ignis's to bring him near. Something about the contact made Gladio shiver, and he unwrapped his tail from around Ignis, and then coiled it around the other way, feeling a definite shiver of pleasure run through his tail and up his spine at the contact.

He pressed his fingers gently under Ignis's chin, tipping his head back carefully before he pressed his lips to Ignis's.

It was like kissing fire. Ignis's lips burned, and Gladio felt himself consumed with a heat that had been so absent from the dark seas. He never wanted to let Ignis go, never wanted that heat to fade away. Hands grasped the muscle of his back, dragging against his skin, pulling him close. Ignis's mouth opened, begging to be entered, but his tongue licked out into Gladio's mouth the moment Gladio tried.

They span and coiled around each other, scales rubbing, and tails twisting and untwisting as they kissed. Ignis squeezed Gladio's tail in the coiled length of his own, sending ripples of pleasure through Gladio's own body that made him tip his head back to groan.

Lips descended to Gladio's throat, brushing against soft gills in a way that felt terribly intimate. It was like having his insides stroked by a caring hand.

“I knew you'd be beautiful as a Mer,” Ignis whispered, his voice low and throbbing in the depths.

“So are you,” Gladio replied, bringing his hand up to brush Ignis's hair back and out of the way. “Where are we?” he asked.

“Asleep in your bed,” Ignis answered, his fingers drawing down Gladio's side. When they reached the scales at Gladio's hip they sent a sharp shockwave of pleasure through Gladio's body.

Gladio jerked in Ignis's grip and groaned. “What are you doing to me?”

“It's your lateral line,” Ignis answered, amusement colouring his tone and drawing a smirk across his face. “A collection of nerves sensitive enough to detect faint pressure changes in the water,” he drew his tail up, sending another sharp shiver of pleasure through Gladio. “It can be quite pleasurable.”

Gladio inhaled, feeling his chest expand and the water rush through his gills. Then he slid his hand down Ignis's side, over his tail, and watched him close his eyes and gasp in response. “Is this a dream?” he asked. “I'm not a merman.”

“Think of it as a decision,” Ignis answered, settling his hands on Gladio's waist and looking at him with beautiful, bottle green eyes. “You can leave me like this, or take me with you.”

“I'm not leaving you,” Gladio declared, his brow furrowing. “I'm never leaving you, Iggy.”

Ignis's smile was faint, but warm. “You have a fiancée,” he pointed out, “a kingdom to run, a life to live. The spell Noct used has tied me to you. This is your chance to back out, before it's permanent.”

“You were gonna die,” Gladio replied. He remembered, the horrible memory of how cold Iggy's skin had grown was never going to leave him. He hadn't been able to breathe, hadn't been able to swim. “What happens if I back out now?”

Ignis smiled at him again, soft, and sweet, and achingly loving. “I will die,” he answered, simply.

Gladio felt the hurt and the pain welling up in his chest. “I'm not backing out,” he insisted, “why would you even ask that?”

Ignis shushed him gently. Fingers brushed down Gladio's chest until they were sitting over his heart. “It's an option, that's all.”

Gladio scowled, but felt the rising wave of grief settling back into the pit of his stomach reluctantly. He coiled his arms around Ignis and crushed his body tight against his own chest, burying his nose in Iggy's hair. “I don't want the option. I want you.”

“I had to give it to you,” Ignis answered in a whisper. “You're going to be stuck with me for the rest of your life. That isn't a decision I want you to make in a hurry.”

“I'm not changing my mind,” Gladio answered. “I want you with me for as long as I live.” He sighed, and held Ignis a fraction tighter. “How much magic are you burning to do this right now?”

“Not as much as you might think,” Ignis answered, coiling his arms tightly around Gladio and burying his head into Gladio's chest. Gladio felt him tuck his ear against Gladio's skin, as if he was searching for the sound of Gladio's heart. “Your emotions are fuel for magic. You're feeding more than enough in to keep me going.”

“You're living off what I feel for you?”

“If you want to put it that way,” Ignis agreed, with a soft laugh.

“Then you know exactly why I'm not leaving you here.”

Gladio caught Ignis's eyes as he looked up, and kept their gazes locked as he shifted up to find Gladio's mouth again. “If you ever change your mind--” he began.

“I won't.”

“But if you do--”

“I'll let you know,” Gladio promised. Ignis seemed satisfied with that answer, and leaned in to kiss Gladio deeply once more. His tongue slipped past Gladio's lips, playing against Gladio's own in gentle, sweet touches that Gladio felt himself becoming lost in. The feel of Iggy's tail coiled around his slipped away from his notice, and the impenetrable darkness lifted.

Gladio became aware of the weight of Ignis's body on top of him, and the sheets tangled around his bare legs. Ignis's lips brushed against his own as he pulled away, and Gladio opened his eyes to see those beautiful sea green ones gazing into his own.

“Promise?”

Gladio blinked, and brought his hand up Ignis's back, resting his palm between warm shoulder blades. “I promise.” He tugged Ignis down for another kiss.


End file.
